Godfrey Pass 2 - Swiss Meter Gauge in the Garden - Bored, Planning, Questions!

[PaulRhB]

No idea what the max is, I only had 5-6 coach trains

Edited June 7, 2017 by PaulRhB

[Satan's Goldfish]

No idea what the max is, I only had 5-6 coach trains

 

Well it sounds like a fun summer experimenting if we get the place then. Be nice to finally have somewhere to build the layout.

[Satan's Goldfish]

The eBay fairy delivers.

 

 

Cheap diesel from Germany for its orange respray. Cheap because it needs a hand rail fixing on this side, and the drivers door fixing on the other side. Was going to pull it apart for the respray anyway.

 

And a 2nd class heavy steel coach. I have a lack of standard red 2nd class coaches, the 2 red EW iv coaches I've got will be receiving the Bernina respray and that left me with just 1 red 2nd class coach. So this will boost the numbers a little

[Satan's Goldfish]

Suns out, and had an evening at home alone as Mrs SG was working. Decided as part of the planning process I really should do a load test. Our current garden isn't quite flat and has lots of small holes dug by the dog in it to create an uneven surface. A basic oval was laid with 24ft straights and 180 degree LGB R2 curves at the end to simulate worse case scenario, due to the unevenness of the lawn it even got a mixture of cambers for good measure! There is still the odd single R1 curve in the plans as part of storage and shunting areas, but nothing like in this test.

 

Tested a GE4/4ii with up to 8 coaches, no issues on about 2/3rd power pulling or pushing while continuous running. Starting on a grade was less easy, but not impossible.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i05mdrv4gt8

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jLzxjDitWLc

 

 

 

Another test, it was the first 'setup' with the dog around. She normally chases anything that moves but was very indifferent to the trains, which is good.

 

 

 

 

Finally for the evenings 'play time', running with a more usual load of 6. Still an impressive sight, and a good mix of carriage types, very 1980s.

 

 

 

 

That is all.

[PaulRhB]

That's a pass then

[Satan's Goldfish]

That's a pass then

 

Yeah, think i'll be looking at more like 1in40 rather than 1in24 for gradients though, and will have roughly 20 vertical feet to climb at the house we're hoping to buy. so that's 800 running feet up, and another 800 down.....

[PaulRhB]

Well you could always put in return automatic loops instead of a circuit so it looks less crowded. You can hide the rear half behind a rockery, (maybe some shrubbery? Ni! )

[Satan's Goldfish]

I had thought about a return loop, I've been double hooking my stock for coupling security anyway so it's an option (not all coaches were double hooked for yesterdays test, and despite the uneven track I had no coupling issues. which was nice). My original plan was a balloon loop layout from the main station with a return loop at the other end. Add in the grandiose plan I've had since being very young of wanting a model based on viaduct du garabit (admittedly not in G though) and just 1 run up the mound looks attractive! The raised land in the prospective garden does have some natural shrubbery going on, as long as I only get flesh wounds pruning it back.....

 

Worse case scenario, the 20ft high 'mound' makes up the back garden and slopes down all around it, so a level track could completely go around the mound, but it would probably be somewhere in the region of 400m long and I don't want track that far away from the house, not to mention power issues at that length. I'm due to visit it this weekend, i'll see if I can get some suitable pictures but for personal reasons I obviously don't want to give away the location.

[PaulRhB]

Power issues are easily solved by running mains cable jumpers to key points further out, a friends garden was well over 100ft and his line was fed that way with barely noticeable power drop.

400m of track is going to be expensive

[Satan's Goldfish]

Per meter, 7 1/4inch track is cheaper......

[Satan's Goldfish]

As threatened, this is part of what I'm planning on working with, slopey land and shrubbery! Big concrete garden shed at the edge of the slope is usefully located for a secure fiddle yard, it has double doors at each end that can be modified to run tracks through, and a couple of single doors on the side. (As a plus point, got there today and it was so hot an extractor fan on the roof of the shed had started up. So we know it has power already )

 

 

 

And just for you Paul, picked up another colourful bogie van yesterday.

[PaulRhB]

Cor that hill has rockery potential

[Satan's Goldfish]

It does indeed. There will be a stream with a koi pond at the bottom eventually...

 

From today's visit I am now wrestling with a dilemma based on a comment my mum made (in brilliant bad influence style). As previously worked out, a 1 in 40 grade going from bottom to top will be about 800ft of track, 1600ft to get back down again if the return loop option is not used. So that's over the 400m that would be needed just to run a line all the way around the hill. Which is a ridiculous cost (imho) for just a simple private garden railway.

 

The site also comes with some quite sizable outbuildings so it would be easy enough to just have G scale indoors and have a nice sized (exhibitable?) layout. But that doesn't give me the nice garden railway I've always wanted...... and per meter a 7 1/4 inch gauge loop around the hill would be considerably cheaper.

 

So do I keep planning on making the RhB climb the mound, or do I leave it and 20 years or so down the line (pun!) drop a ride-on around the site? I've probably got enough G track and stock to look at building the station plan I've created, but just as a big indoor roundy instead with reduced train length. Or, build the station indoors with just a simple level run outdoors.....

[PaulRhB]

Well it would be a spacious garden railway you can enjoy running big trains and even operations if you've a few friends round.

7.25 in is great if you'll be satisfied with a simple industrial railway, depends what's most fun to run for an hour or more You could always start small with G in the building with an outdoor loop to give a run and see if it satisfies, extend it into the monster later or choose to go BIG

Ken Payne did they in O and it allowed scale trains and he could fill the shed with the station but enjoy them loping along outside.

[Satan's Goldfish]

Deep down I know that makes sense. the 7.25 that's always stuck in my mind was the one at Pleasurewood Hills in the 1980s with big American diesels. Castledare near Perth (Australia, not Scotland) Is similar. But that's a bit overkill. An industrial style 'estate' railway may make sense in the future to aid annual site maintenance but without knowing what that may be I'll put it to the back of my mind and keep on track until then. 

 

I am coming around to the idea of making the main station exhibitable, if I have a separate storage yard in the shed then the station doesn't need to be as big and can get away with being a slightly modified 'phase 1' on the plan. (I feel like I've gone full circle here somewhere)

 

 

Much simpler, much less track, but still keep the scissors. good for just watching trains run through scenery to start with. Almost 'Bever' in plan if a couple of freight loops were added. Unfortunately the storage shed doesn't have windows which is why station is still drawn outside.

 

An outdoor transportable board doesn't have disaster written all over it or anything...

[PaulRhB]

 

Revised, Reduced.jpg

Unfortunately the storage shed doesn't have windows which is why station is still drawn outside.

 

 

This comes in RhB maintenance orange . . .

 

And this in mainline red

[tetsudofan]

Building spirals, mountains and bridges etc. can be great fun:

 

 

 

 

....but its all worth it when you can sit back and watch trains climbing up into the mountains:

 

 

 

All takes time but its worth it in the end!!

 

Keith

[Satan's Goldfish]

Very impressive. Out of interest, how steep are the gradients and what length trains can tackle them?

[tetsudofan]

That's a difficult question to answer. I have a rather un-scientific way of calculating my gradients - I try not to exceed half-a-bubble on the spirit level inherited from my father. I'm in the process of laying a reverse loop on a level falling gradient so I may be able to come up with a one in something measurement.

 

I don't run super-duper length trains but have experienced now problems with trains of these lengths using LGB locos:

 

 

 

 

 

Keith

[Satan's Goldfish]

Half a bubble sounds a good unit of measure to me Keith, keeps it consistent.

[Satan's Goldfish]

Is it still classed as modelling if mother nature did most of the work and you used garden tools?

 

 

 

 

Glad I only wanted to load 1, that took quite a while.

[Satan's Goldfish]

Ah the smell of drying paint on top a warm fish tank...

 

 

Vw orange as recommended, grey primer chassis.

[tetsudofan]

Is it still classed as modelling if mother nature did most of the work and you used garden tools?

 

20170625_134114.jpg

 

 

 

Glad I only wanted to load 1, that took quite a while.

 

Yes it is......and certainly more authentic looking than as supplied by LGB straight out of the box!!

 

 

...... although from a distance at the back of a train does not look too bad ​:

 

Keith

[uax6]

I suppose that one of the things that you need to consider is the cost of stock. If 7.25" is cheaper trackwise, is it actually all that much cheaper for the stock?

 

As I'm not over sure that 7.25 would be all that much help in garden maintenance. 10.25" would be better for that... Also with your little mound would the larger stock get up the hill?

 

I think you would probably be better sticking with what you have, and actually creating a real railway, that runs from somewhere to somewhere, disappears here and there and which you can just leave to run on its own if you wish...

 

Andy G

[Satan's Goldfish]

Wow, those logs are..... Wow expected better from LGB. The load on the 4 wheel stake wagons (pictured earlier in the thread I think) is real wood and looks very effective.

 

Andy, I think You're right, I just get easily distracted. Got a good plan to work with here and have little enough time to catch up with all my other projects without adding a much bigger one. There's a 7.25 not far from the site that would be worth a visit or 8 beforehand if i start to think there may be benefit to an 'estate railway' rather than just buying a trailer for the tractor!